Rep. Eric Swalwell says Republicans are treating the House like Trump’s own law firm as a


Rep. Eric Swalwell said the House is acting like they are a ‘law firm with just one client’ – former President Donald Trump as he slammed Speaker Kevin McCarthy for barreling toward a government shutdown.

The Democratic lawmaker claimed that while McCarthy has the ‘title’ of Speaker, far-right factions of the Republican Party are really running the show in the House of Representatives.

His comments to MSNBC host Jen Psaki come just days before the House must reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown by passing all 12 appropriation bills for the annual funding of federal agencies.

‘The House, unfortunately, has become a law firm, with just one client, Donald Trump,’ Swalwell said in noting those running the lower chamber have their priorities elsewhere than avoiding a shutdown.

‘And, again, it’s at the expense of American people,’ he noted, adding that ‘people are going to feel the pain’ of a shutdown in coming weeks.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said Republicans in the House are treating Congress like it's a law firm with a single client in Donald Trump

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said Republicans in the House are treating Congress like it’s a law firm with a single client in Donald Trump

While the House needs to pass appropriations before September 30 to avoid a shutdown, Republicans have focused-in on other issues. Earlier this month, McCarthy announced when coming back into session after August recess an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Sunday that he’s open to voting to oust Speaker McCarthy if he can’t reach a deal in time to prevent a shutdown.

Meanwhile, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) predicts the shutdown is inevitable at this point as Republicans refuse to band together behind a single deal – and a MAGA-arm of the Party persists in wanting Speaker McCarthy out.

‘Kevin McCarthy is a spectator speaker,’ Swalwell insisted. ‘He may have the title, but Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, they all share the job.’

‘And the problem is, is that McCarthy is only worried about his own job, and keeping it, and not the jobs of your viewers – the millions who would be affected if we don’t pay our troops, if we don’t pay border agents, if we don’t pay air traffic controllers,’ the lawmaker said during his MSNBC interview Sunday morning.

‘McCarthy could simply bring forward the same legislation that Senator Schumer and McConnell have worked on in the Senate, that President Biden would sign, and be an adult and put the country first, and we would fund the government before funding run out.’

‘But, instead, the House Republicans are failures.’

A government shutdown could be just days away as the spending bill for the last fiscal year runs out on September 30.

Meanwhile, McCarthy is having trouble juggingling the desires of moderate Republicans and hard-right factions of the Party, let alone deal with the flurry of deviating priorities of the Democrats.

Asked in a CNN State of the Union interview on Sunday morning whether he would support booting McCarthy from his speaker role, Rep. Burchett replied: ‘That would be something I would look strongly at.’

‘If we do away with our duty that we said we’re going to do,’ Burchett told CNN host Dana Bash. ‘They’re all talking about this promise that he made with Biden a year ago… What about the promise we made to the American public that we were going to be responsible Americans?’

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Sunday that he would be open to voting out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy if he isn't able to strike a deal to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Sunday that he would be open to voting out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy if he isn’t able to strike a deal to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown

‘We are going to be governing over a pile of rubble if we’re not careful,’ the Tennessee Republican added. ‘Our financial ship is sinking – and the American public needs to realize, all these fancy titles, C.R.s and omnibus, to confuse the American public is not working. The curtain’s off. We need to do our duty. We should be back in Washington right now and dealing with it. But what are we doing? Well, they sent us home.’

Despite the tightening deadline, the House recessed for a long weekend instead of staying in Washington, D.C. to advance at least some of the a dozen appropriation bills set forward to avoid a shutdown.

The government is funded each year by 12 appropriations bills, each covering different agencies or groups of agencies. In recent years, some or all of these bills have been rolled into a single ‘omnibus’ package and approved together.

Any parts of the government whose appropriations have not been approved and signed into law by midnight on September 30 could shut down. With less than a week until that deadline, it’s likely the federal government will go into at least a partial shutdown.

Rep. Waters says she’s sure a few agencies will need to close their doors until appropriations are approved for the next fiscal year.

‘We’re headed for a shutdown,’ Waters said in an interview with MSNBC’s the Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.

Meanwhile, Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters is certain there will be a government shutdown due to the 'disarray' and 'chaos' of the Republican Party

Meanwhile, Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters is certain there will be a government shutdown due to the ‘disarray’ and ‘chaos’ of the Republican Party

She added: ‘The Republican Party is in complete disarray. It is chaotic.’

‘The Speaker is on his knees begging, but he sold his soul when we had 15 roll calls that was taken in order for him to get to be speaker, and now he has no control. We’re headed for a shutdown.’

Waters was referencing the fact that the House had to hold 15 separate votes to actually approve McCarthy as Speaker when Republicans gained control of the lower chamber in the 2022 midterms.

Now, that chaos is catching up with Waters’ California colleague.

Despite months of trying to get separate factions of the Party to work together, now the lawmakers are blaming their leader in the House for the inability to get legislation passed.



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